Hockey / Keep your eyes on Savannah

Keep your eyes on Savannah

Date:  Source: ACHA

From Savannah Morning News

By Nathan Dominitz

 

For locals, the Enmarket Savannah Hockey Classic is an annual opportunity to see the sport in person, four games over two days featuring teams they’re more accustomed to rooting for (or against) on college football Saturdays.

For the players wearing the colors of Georgia, Georgia Tech, Florida and Florida State, the 22nd annual competition Friday and Saturday, Jan. 17-18, at the Savannah Civic Center will be about rivalries, certainly. But it’s so much more.

“This is the weekend they live for in the entire hockey season,” Bob Cernich, fifth-year head coach of defending champion Georgia Tech, said Thursday.

The Yellow Jackets, who also won the first Hockey Classic when it was nicknamed “Rumble in the Rink” in 1999, matched UGA all-time with their eighth title in 2019. Last season, Georgia Tech had lost twice to the Ice Dawgs leading up to the Savannah trip, then beat Georgia (and earlier, Florida State) to capture the Thrasher Cup.

It’s a trade-off Cernich will take every time. This season, Tech has split two regular-season meetings with their in-state rival.

“We can throw out the 1-1 in the regular season before the first (semester) break or whatever the case is,” Cernich said. “What you want to do is come here and win this tournament and do it by beating the University of Georgia. That’s the like the Super Bowl of hockey for this team, the Stanley Cup for Georgia Tech. Probably for all four teams.”

All four teams are student-run club hockey teams, meaning they are sanctioned by their respective universities like other on-campus clubs, but don’t have anywhere close to the financial support or resources of the NCAA Division I teams on campus.

The club teams compete for titles in Division III of the American Collegiate Hockey Association, which might not be mainstream in the South, but includes school names familiar to casual sports fans. This 2019-20 season, Florida State and Georgia Tech joined Florida and Georgia in the Southeastern Collegiate Hockey Conference, which had been set up like the SEC of the NCAA before expansion.

So scheduling and regional rivalries have been aided, but there’s a reason these four teams make a point to circle Savannah on their calendars – some even having a countdown clock on their websites noting the days, hours, minutes and second before they drop the puck on Friday.

Caleb Rudnicki, who played goaltender for four seasons for the Yellow Jackets before graduating in December with a degree in computer science, said he looked forward most to playing in the Hockey Classic because of the crowds and the atmosphere.

“Even the years that we made it to nationals and regionals, playing in these big tournaments, Savannah’s always one of the highlights if not the biggest highlight of our season,” said Rudnicki, 23, who minded the net for both Tech wins in 2019 and with 28 saves was selected the player of the game in the 3-2 win over Georgia to clinch the Thrasher Cup.

“It’s always good for the new guys to see what it’s like to play in front of such a big crowd, and always good for the returners to continue to play in front of 5,500 people.”

That cannot be overstated. Announced attendance for the Jan. 19, 2019 doubleheader of Florida-Florida State and Georgia-Georgia Tech was a sellout of 5,518. One night earlier, the crowd was announced as 4,173 for FSU-Tech and UGA-UF.

That’s pretty typical, but atypical of the crowds Rudnicki says they would attract a regular-season game against Georgia (“a couple hundred”) and lesser-known opponents (“could be 20-30 people”).

And that’s not all. The Savannah Hockey Classic, he said, is “like a completely different thing.”

“I know all the new guys coming in, when we say just keep your eyes on Savannah in January, they’re always like, ‘Well, it can’t be that big because it’s just hockey in Georgia,’ especially the guys who come from up north to play,” Rudnicki said. “When they get to Savannah, they have the morning skate like they do in the pros. The tournament and the Savannah Sports Council provide us with everything we need for before the game, after the game, during the game. They make it a whole experience that makes it feel as if we were NCAA DI players or pro players.”

From the way the locker rooms are prepared to the supply of sports drinks to the on-ice spotlight introduction of players before each game, this is a different thing.

“I know the fans come down afterward sometimes and ask for signatures, which kind of blows some of the new guys’ minds,” Rudnicki said.

When Rudnicki completed his classes in the fall semester and graduated, his eligibility was over. He posted a 5-2-1 record in games in the fall semester, with a 2.35 goals-against average, one shutout, 19 goals against, 220 saves and a .921 save percentage.

He’s been playing some adult league hockey in Massachusetts while biding his time before starting a new job at Nike in Oregon. But that won’t keep him for coming back to Savannah to cheer on his team this weekend. He flew back to his home in the Atlanta area on Thursday and planned to drive over Friday.

And he plans to be part of another tradition of ice hockey weekend in the Hostess City.

“Every Saturday after that UGA game, we all go to a bar on River Street,” he said. “Hopefully, it’s a good time, like when we won last year. We get to celebrate with the trophy. Sometimes it’s a good way to forget about what just happened. It’s always a good time, win or lose. Obviously, we’d like to win. It was definitely an experience winning (the title) my last year.”

Notes

In the most recent ACHA Division III rankings for the South Region in December, Georgia (now 11-7-1-0) was No. 5, Georgia Tech (11-5-1-0) was No. 8, Florida (4-6-0-1) was No. 14 and Florida State (3-9-0-0) was No. 25 of 34 teams listed.

This season, in addition to splitting two games with Georgia Tech (a 4-1 loss on Sept. 20 and a 5-2 win on Oct. 18), the Ice Dawgs have beaten Florida twice (3-2 on Nov. 1 and 4-3 on Jan. 11). Florida topped FSU 4-2 in their lone meeting on Oct. 12.

While player statistics and rosters are available on team websites, some context is needed. Some players may be inactive because of injuries, or because they are involved with studies or internships that make them unavailable, or, like with Rudnicki, they graduated last semester.

Georgia Tech also lost top scorer Michael Brzozowski (12 goals and 24 assists for 36 points in 16 games), as well as forwards Michael Markwordt (20 points in 16 games) and Kevin Sheridan (18 in 15) to graduation. Kevin Polak, the most valuable player of the 2019 Hockey Classic, has played in just two games (10 points) because of injury, and Cernich hopes he can play this weekend.

“Now we come here with almost a different team,” Cernich said. “We’re still basically trying to put a puzzle together. So no matter what you’ve done first semester does not translate into second semester.”

 

SAVANNAH HOCKEY CLASSIC

SAVANNAH HOCKEY CLASSIC TITLES

Georgia Tech (8): 1999, 2001, ’02, ’03, ’09, ’11, ’12, ’19

Georgia (8): 2000, ’04, ’05, ’06, ’07, ’13, ’17, ’18

Florida (3): 2010, ’14, ’15

Florida State (2)*: 2008, ’16

* Seminoles replaced inaugural participant Tennessee in 2000.

 

2020 SCHEDULE

At Savannah Civic Center

Friday, Jan. 17: Florida State vs. Georgia Tech, 6 p.m.; Florida vs. Georgia, 8:30 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 18: FSU vs. UF, 5:30 p.m.; UGA vs. Georgia Tech, 8:30 p.m.

Information: SavannahHockeyClassic.com

(Originally published at https://www.savannahnow.com/sports/20200116/keep-your-eyes-on-savannah)